June/July Newsletter

Paty, Dany, me, Carla, and Glenda on the way to Korea

A Year in Perspective...

My year in Chile has ended, and I’m writing this from back home in Nebraska. As I start to reflect to the year, I’m amazed at God’s provisions, leading, and kindness, although I didn’t always recognize it at the time. Overall, it was a hard year of sowing a lot of seeds in students’ lives. However, this last month I was there, I was blessed to see God work in many student’s lives and how he is going to continue using the ministry in Chile. Here are some quick examples… Jorge, a student at Andres Bello in Las Condes where the summer project went, is not a Christian, but wants to know more about Christ and is going to start meeting with our full-time staff. He also wants to start Vida Estudiantil at his campus!

Jaime, a student from Andres Bello at Republica has been coming to English club. Dave and I were able to share with him, and it turns out he was a Christian, but not walking with the Lord. Now he is very excited to help Glenda, our other student leader at Republica, start a ministry there and reach out to his classmates.

The summer project went to 4 different campuses to support student leaders there who are motivated to start a ministry on their campus. Now that the project is gone, those students are still excited about continuing something on their campus and taking the responsibility to do that. This is what we’ve been praying for!

As I go back to pharmacy school next month, I’m very grateful for this year the Lord gave me in Chile and all he taught me through it. I’m excited to continue using what I’ve learned there, and allow the Lord to use me to show his love to my classmates there.

If you have been supporting me through a direct deposit into my staff account or a credit card gift, please call 1-888-CRUSADE and ask them to end that. My account number is 0585600. If you have any questions, please let me know. Thank you for all your encouragement and support throughout the year!

Chile Opportunity

Christian and Blanca Maueria, a Chilean staff couple, and their 6 month old son, Alonso, will be coming to Omaha, NE in January to live for 6 months. Christian will be taking English classes at UNO, as knowing English is becoming more and more critical to the ministry. They are in need of a car and a place to live for these 6 months. Also, if you would like to continue to support the ministry in Chile, supporting them would be a great way to do that. If you want to help in any way, please let me know.

Our team of Koreans and Chileans on the mission trip in Seoul.

Korea 2007

Campus Mission 2007 was an incredible experience. I was able to be a part of over 17,000 college students gathered in Busan, South Korea for a week. The goal of the conference was to challenge students to take the gospel to all the world, and really focus on the 6000 unreached campuses in the world. We heard from speakers like Steve Douglass, the president of Campus Crusade, and the Korean president of CCC as well. It was amazing for me to see students from around the world praising the same God, and to see their passion for him. Especially hearing from students in closed countries who literally risk their lives to follow Christ. After the conference, we went on a 4 day mission trip in Seoul, and partnered with a church there and the outreaches they were doing with their community. It was challenging to see how hard the Koreans work to spread the gospel and how devoted they are to prayer. It was a stretching time for the students and staff that went, and it’s exciting to see how the students are already taking steps to reach their campuses.

Prayer Requests

· PRAISE for all the Lord did this year in Chile and the lives of Chilean students

· For the new Chilean student leaders– that they would be encouraged and continue to follow the Lord

· For more people to be sent to Chile to do ministry there

· For me as I adjust to life in America and prepare to go back to school

· For Christian and Blanca Maueria as they come to Nebraska for 6 months and their needs for a car and apartment

Thank you for your partnership in reaching Chilean students with the love and gospel of Christ this year. You’ve each been a blessing to me—

Julie Sorensen

May prayer letter

It’s hard to believe that it’s already June— the time has gone so incredibly fast here! The summer project has arrived, and co-leading it has kept me busier than I have been the whole rest of the year. They’re a great group of 13 students from all over the US, full of energy and enthusiasm that has been an encouragement to us all. The project has split into 2 campus groups— I lead one of these groups to Andres Bello La Casona campus, where we are beginning a Vida Estudiantil movement from scratch. It’s been very difficult at times, but we have been able to see God working in amazing ways. Last Friday I was feeling discouraged about what we were doing, but God turned it into the best day we’ve had so far! An English major we had met earlier invited us to lunch, introduced us to her English speaking friends, and then they invited us to their classroom to meet more classmates! We’ve also started an English club there. The other half of the project is with Nathan, my co-leader, at another campus, UMCE. It’s been exhausting trying to balance my time between them, my STINT team, and my roommates, but at the same time, one of the most rewarding things I’ve done all year.

Chile Facts

San Cristobal is a famous large hill in Chile right by my apartment. You can ride a ski-lift type thing to the top or walk. At the top is a huge statue of the Virgin Mary overlooking the city— you can see the statue for miles around. Below her, on the side, is a small Jesus, about as tall as me. This is very telling of Chilean culture.

Casey and Nathan with Antonio, a student at UMCE.

All Good Things...

Life is changing quickly here. My roommate and now close friend, Esther, returned to the United States last week. I miss her a lot! I’m going to Korea at the end of June for 2 weeks, and when I return, my whole Stint team, except for one person, will be back in the States as well. As I prepare to return to the States as well, on the 19th of July, it causes me to reflect a lot on the year and what God has taught me and how I’ve grown. I think one of the biggest things I’ve learned is how utterly dependent I am on him. And that with him, I can do things that I in my own strength and personality cannot do. I’ve seen that many times this year– through leading the project, planning the retreat, just talking to students and sharing the gospel with them in Spanish! I can’t believe how fast this year has gone. Next month I will share more with you about what I’ve learned this year, as well as my hopes for next year in pharmacy school.

Prayer Requests

· The summer project— for unity and Chilean students hearts to be open

· Wisdom and strength for Nathan and I as we lead it

· For the students going to korea –for encouragement and to trust God to provide the $2500 for the Plane Ticket

· Wisdom for how to share Christ with the students– that it would not just come across as religion, but as something relevant and real

· For God to show us students who will be leaders in this movement– we truly want it to be a Chilean, and not an American, ministry

Thank you for all your prayers and support— you have all been amazing this year and made me feel very loved.

In Him,
Julie Sorensen

April Prayer Letter

Fall Retreat

All the students and staff at the fall retreat

It’s beginning to get cooler here as fall comes to Chile. Last weekend was the first annual Santiago fall retreat. I was on the planning committee for it, along with 2 other of my American team members. As you can imagine, it was a bit of a challenge at times trying to not only organize a retreat, but in a foreign language in a foreign country! God blessed us greatly and we had about 45 students come— many of them who weren’t Christians. Mario Bloise, the international director of Campus Crusade in Latin America, spoke on leadership that changes lives and used some examples from the life of Christ. The students really enjoyed it, as did the staff, and it was great to have some more time to hang out with students outside of the university setting. Here in Chile, it doesn’t work very well to have an outright Christian retreat. A few Christians would come, but the vast majority of our students involved with Vida Estudiantil here are seekers, many of whom we’ve shared the gospel with, but who aren’t ready to make a decision for Christ. We continue to develop relationships with them and love them, while trying to live out the gospel with our lives.

I was very encouraged that my friend Camila came to this retreat. Camila is a 3rd year student studying Biochemistry who has been coming every week to our English clubs. She’s a very sweet girl who is very good at English! At the retreat, we were able to share with her about Christ. She listened intently while we talked, but was very hesitant to share about what she believed. I also found out she was at our English clubs 2 years ago when I was here on summer project. I believe God has big things planned for her. Continue to keep Camila in your prayers that she would continue being more and more open with us and that she would have a relationship with Christ.

We had our first weekly meeting called Punto de Partida 2 weeks ago. We had about 25 students there, which is a huge praise! Christian, a Chilean staff member, spoke about dating in Chilean culture. We’ll be having one meeting each month.

Chile Facts

*There are about 537 Chilean pesos to $1.00 American dollar. However, this fluctuates daily.

Camila and Holly, one of my teammates Summer Project

On May 22, fourteen college students will be arriving from the U.S. for a 6 week summer project here in Santiago. I’ll be co-leading this project along with Nathan, a senior at KU. More than likely, we will be starting ministries at 2 different campuses this summer, based on the investigating we did at campuses earlier this semester. I’m really looking forward to this new stage of ministry. I will be discipling some of the girls that come, as well as just helping give leadership to the project. This does mean that I will no longer be working in Barrio Republica with my Stint team. It makes me a bit sad to leave them and the ministry that we have started there, but I know God is calling me to lead this project, and I am excited about it too. Our theme for the summer is ‘Crash’. A herd of rhinos is called a ‘crash’ because they can only see 30 feet in front of them, yet they run full speed ahead, risking a crash. We want to step out in faith and move boldly ahead, even though none of us really know what we are doing. We’re trusting the Lord for great things this summer.

Prayer Requests

· Camila– that she would come to know the Lord

· For the summer project– for unity and god to work

· For the students going to Korea –for encouragement and to trust God to provide the $2500 for the plane ticket

· For wisdom on dividing my time between the project and my team and roommates

· Praise for how God has worked this semester and all the students he has given us

Have a great summer— it’s been great partnering with you this year. Thank you for everything! In His love and grace,

Julie Sorensen

March Prayer Letter

Happy Easter! I hope that you are doing well and enjoying spring! Here fall is coming, and it’s finally beginning to cool off. However, our semester is starting up at full speed. God is doing incredible things here! Here’s a look at what I’ve been doing last month… Thank you for your partnership in reaching Chilean students with the gospel of Christ.
Julie Sorensen
Me at our stand

Freshman Orientation
We decided to have an orientation for the freshman about how to get good grades while still having fun in college. We wanted to meet students, give a talk that would be useful to them, and give them a chance to get involved in small groups that objectively study the Bible. We planned for weeks, advertised with posters, flyers, and a stand. We bought an IPOD shuffle for a drawing, bought some food, and made a video. A lot of students showed interest and said they would come. It was all going well until about an hour and a half before the orientation was scheduled to occur. That’s when high schoolers, who were protesting something, marched their riot right through our campus with the police right behind, throwing tear gas bombs, squirting water cannons, and throwing students into their vans. As you can imagine, the campus was then closed, and that was the end of having our meeting. At least for that day— we have since been able to reschedule it for next week. Hopefully students will still come! These riots are a pretty common occurrence here in Chile. If students don’t like something, they hold protests, which usually bring the police and their teargas. This is Chile!
If nothing else, the stand allowed us to get the name of Vida Estudiantil out among the students so they know who we are. It also let us meet several strong Christian students who have good potential to be leaders in the movement! These things in themselves make the stand worth it.
We’ve also started up 2 English clubs again for students of all levels to come learn and practice for free. This is a great way to meet students, because many are interested in learning English. Continue praying that we would develop good relationships with the students and have boldness in sharing the gospel with them.

Freshman orientation— (not ours!!) all the freshman go through this initiation process the first week of school– they smell terrible!

Expansion
There are over 60 campuses in Chile, and currently, Vida Estudiantil is only at 4 of them. We’re trusting God to begin new movements on 2-3 campuses this year. To make that happen, we’re currently visiting about 10 different campuses to see where he is opening doors. This is very exciting to me, as I have been praying since I left Chile in 2005 that God would bring Vida Estudiantil to every campus in Chile. Pray that God would show us what campuses we should go to and for favor with the administrations.

Spring break planning
Nathan, my co-leader for the summer project, was here for a week on his spring break trip. We were able to get a lot planned and ready for the project. Continue to pray for us that we would plan well and have wisdom and for the students as they raise support.

February Newsletter

Our Chilean staff team 2007!

Planning, Retreats, and Summer Projects...

Hola! I hope that you’re all doing well. I’ve heard there’s a lot of snow in Nebraska-it seems strange to think about that when it’s been so hot out here! The summer has gone by quickly and now we’re busy preparing for the new semester to start here in about a week. I’m really excited to get back to campus and spend time with students again. We have a lot planned for the fall for reaching the students and building community among the students including a freshman orientation, small groups, a fall retreat, and student leader meetings.
We had our all staff retreat in late February– it was great to be able to spend time together as a team and also hear from Terry and Nancy McKinney– a staff couple from the US who flew in. God has blessed us with a great Chile team!

Summer Project
In May, the summer project from the States will be coming to Santiago for 6 weeks to share the gospel with students here. I’ve been asked to co-lead this project along with Nathan, a senior at Kansas University. I’m already getting excited for this as I’ve been reading through the girls’ applications. It’s also keeping me busy as we begin to plan all the details of the project such as housing, cost, flights, etc. When the project comes, I will be with them all the time and doing ministry with them instead of my STINT team. This idea was hard for me to adjust to at first because in this way, I’ll be missing the end of my STINT year and being with my team, but now I’m very excited to be able to be a part of this project and see what God has for these students.

Chile Facts
*The ketchup, mayo, mustard, etc. all come in squeezable bags.
*At Pizza Hut you can order corn, hot dog chunks, and broccoli on your pizza. French fries come as a side in the meal deal there.

My roommates and I with the Korean flag.

CM 2007
http://cm2007.net/

What is this? It’s Campus Crusade’s first global missions conference, Campus Mission 2007. From June 30– July 5 2007, 20,000 students from literally all across the world are getting together in Busan, South Korea to worship the Lord and be challenged to reach their campuses with the gospel. The three themes of the week are Christ Magnified, Connecting the Movements, and Completing the Mission. We are sending 3 students from Santiago, as well as several from Concepcion, Chile. I will also be going, as well as several other staff members– it’s really exciting to be able to be a part of this. Our goal is to take our student leaders from Chile so they can return encouraged and ready to share the gospel with their fellow students.
Every nation, tribe, people and language… standing before the throne”. Revelation 7 : 9 -12

Prayer Requests

· The coming semester
· Praise that Galy’s surgery on her thyroid was successful– she’s doing well, but still quite closed to the Gospel
· For the students going to korea –for encouragement and to trust God to provide the $2500 for the Plane Ticket
· The summer project that is coming in May– for their support to come in and God to prepare their hearts– also for Nathan and I as we prepare for the summer

You are all such an encouragement to me– thank you for your faithfulness all year in partnering with me-

Julie Sorensen

January Prayer Letter

Students and staff from Chile at the Argentina conference

Argentina Conference and Mapuche Project

I’ve done a lot of traveling this month, and there’s more to come, but it’s great to be back home in Santiago for a few days to catch up on things. To start off, a few weeks ago, I went with most of the Chile staff and about 20 students to a conference in Argentina. The students and staff from Campus Crusade in Argentina were also there. The theme of the conference was “Mission Impossible” , and the speaker, who is the director of Campus Crusade in South America, had many challenging messages about sharing our faith and realizing how short out time here on earth is. I learned a lot, and it was encouraging to see the students learning too. It was also great to get to know some of the people from Argentina, as well as just have some time to spend hanging out with our own students.

Then we headed down to the south of Chile, close to Lonquimay, for the Mapuche project. I was on a team of 14 people– 7 staff and 7 students. The Mapuche’s live in a very rural area of Chile, and their living conditions are like going back in time 100 years. No electricity or running water, outhouses, wood stoves to cook on, and lots and lots of dirt. We stayed in a boarding school (with cold showers) and everyday we headed out to different locations in the area. We would split off in groups of 3 and walk to the Mapuche’s houses to invite them to come to games for the kids in the afternoon and the Jesus film that night.

It amazed me how hospitable and friendly the people were, inviting us in for homemade bread and mate. Then in the evening, we had the games and film. One afternoon we had over 10 kids indicate they wanted to receive Christ as their Savior! It was really great for me to see the students really stepping out in faith on this project and taking leadership roles and sharing their faith. This is what we were praying for. It was definitely a unique experience!

Chile Facts
Chile is the first country in Latin America to have an elected female president, Michelle Bachelet.
Divorce was just legalized in Chile in 2004.
The country is considered to be politically liberal, but socially conservative. It has one of the most stable economies in Latin America.

Sitting with the Mapuche children listening to the Christmas story

Random Notes...

We were really saddened to find out that one of our students we got to know last semester, Galecia, has thyroid cancer. She’s going to have surgery in the next couple weeks to try to remove it, but it doesn’t look good. Please keep her in your prayers. She’s not a Christian, and she’s pretty bitter at God right now. It’s hard to share with her because she really doesn’t want to listen. However, we’ve spent a lot of time with her and she’s really on our hearts.

This week, we’re heading to Algorrobo, on the beach, to have a STINT Mid-Year conference. It’s hard to believe the year is already half over! The conference is to talk about how things are going and to be refreshed spiritually and physically. After that, we have an all-staff retreat to plan and get on the same page for next semester. It’s coming quickly!

Prayer Requests

· Unity among our team and with my roommates
· That we could learn Spanish quickly
· The upcoming STINT mid-year conference and staff retreat
· Wisdom for me as I’m deciding what I’m going to be doing next year– right now I’m planning

on going back to pharmacy school
· As we continue planning and preparing for next semester
· For Galecia that the surgery will be successful and also that she will be open to the Lord

I really appreciate all your prayers and encouragement- your letters and emails mean so much— thank you!!

Julie Sorensen

December newsletter

Adriana and I in Puerto Montt… that is the volcano Osorno behind us.

Happy New Year!

I hope you were able to enjoy the holidays with good food, friends, and family. I was able to spend Christmas with the family of Cote (a Chilean staff member and good friend). Although I missed my family, her family really made me feel as though I were a part of it. It was interesting spending Christmas in another culture, especially since it was so hot and there was no snow! It really didn’t feel like Christmas. But one thing the Lord really taught me this Christmas is that this season is truly about him and His birth… there was no cold, no snow, not too many decorations, no family, no traditional food, different traditions, but Jesus was still there, and he was still the reason for Christmas.
For New Years, I was able to travel with one of my roommates and a couple of friends to the south of Chile to the city of Puerto Montt. I think it was the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen in my life! It was great to get out of Santiago for a while, and to see more of this beautiful country.
Our team has also started out the New Year with two new people coming to join our team! Dave is from Kansas and will be here for 6 months with us, and Marion is from Germany and will be here for a year. We’re really excited to have them here with us!

My team with the new additions: (back) Clint, Dave, Vince, Holly, me, Jason, (front) Maggie, Kristi, and Marion.

This week all the Chilean staff are taking a class about worldviews. We’re reading “How Now Shall We Live” by Chuck Colson. We go to a class everyday and have a couple of papers to write, as well as a test. The class talks about how our faith affects how we live, and how we view the world around us. Our faith isn’t just personal, but affects every area of our life from politics to education to art. It’s really challenging how I think, and I’ve realized how much the world has affected my thinking without me even realizing it. I would highly recommend this book if you get a chance to read it.

Argentina and the Mapuche Project

This month we’ll be taking some students and heading to Argentina for a week for a leadership conference. We’ll be joining together with the Argentinian staff and students for this week. After that, we’ll head to the south of Chile for another week to work with the Mapuche Indians, an indigenous group in Chile. We’ll be showing the Jesus film to them, as well as serving them in practical ways. It’s a great opportunity, not only to reach out to the Mapuches, but also for the students to put their faith into action. It will also be a great time of character building, as there are no showers, and we’ll be sleeping in tents… with bugs… in the cold. But I’m looking forward to this project, and it’s really exciting to me how we’re able to send out students to reach other people. This is our goal!

My roommates and our Christmas tree

Prayer Requests
· Unity among our team and with my roommates, especially as we add 2 new people
· That we could learn Spanish quickly
· For the Mapuche project- for the students raising support and the project itself.
· For us as we continue to plan and prepare for the next semester. That we would be guided by the Lord.
· For encouragement and continued trust in the Lord as a lot of changes are taking place in the ministry, as well as people’s lives.

Happy New Year! I’m looking forward to continuing to serve the Lord with you this year. It has really been a blessing to me partnering with each of you.
Julie Sorensen

Carlos Antunez 1867
Edif. 18 Depto. 1007
Providencia
Santiago, Chile

Tel. 011-562-236-2434
Email: julieanne77@yahoo.com

Staff #: 0585600